After the Honeymoon
by KatLeePT
Summary: Belle returns after the honeymoon. SPOILERS! RumBelle.


She felt eyes on her the moment she entered the diner. She faced the curious stares with her head held proudly and a calm smile upon her face. She had no reason to care if people gawked. The last few weeks had given her no reason to feel anything but the joy that swelled in her heart even now.

Whispers rose with every step she made. She knew the small minds of Storybrooke's citizens were running abuzz with questions. Everybody had undoubtedly noticed that she had been gone from the library for a couple of weeks, and she was quite certain, as well, that her wedding to the man almost all of them feared was also no secret. Her smile grew. She didn't care if the whole world knew she was married to Rumpelstiltskin. In fact, quite often, including just last night, she felt like shouting it out for them all to hear. She was married to her True Love, and she had never been happier!

She wasn't surprised to be met by Ruby at the counter. Her friend grinned widely as she told her, "Okay, girl, spill! What's going on? We haven't seen you in two weeks, and now you come in here walking like - "

"_RUBY!_" Granny admonished from where she was waiting on other customers at the end of the bar.

"Well, she is!"

"What Ruby is trying to say, Belle, in her own overeager way," Mary Margaret spoke up from beside the stool Belle had taken, "is that you look like you've been having a really good time. Your . . . cheeks are flushed."

Belle heard the whispers rising, but then they finally stopped. She should have known that Leroy was showing the crowded diner his dagger behind her back, but she was just glad to see her friend as he took the other stool beside her. He smiled up at her. "Ignore them, sister. What we really want to know is just . . . Are you happy?" His gaze was imploring and piercing, almost as though he was trying to warn her not to lie to him, but Belle had no need to lie.

She quite nearly swooned in her seat as she told them truthfully, "Happier than I've ever been in my entire life!"

Ruby waggled her eyebrows. "He's that good, huh? The bad boys always are better."

"We should hook up sometime then, sister."

"I'm not playing Astrid for you again, short stuff."

"I _so_ do not want to know," Mary Margaret commented, eyeing the two of them.

Belle just sighed happily, the conversation drifting around her not bothering her in the least. She was overjoyed. The last couple of weeks had been the most blissful honeymoon she could have ever imagined, and although they had sent for delivery to Granny's for food, and she had evidently had their orders delivered so discreetly that not even Ruby had known about them, neither she nor her beloved Rumpel had left his home, which was now _their_ home in two weeks' time. He had not spoken of deals or of work until she had told him a few days ago that, as much as she loved spending time alone with him, she really must get back to the library.

Belle had completely tuned out the conversation when a brown paper bag dropped in front of her. "Your usual, dear?"

She blinked before smiling gratefully up at Granny. "Thank you," she said graciously, implying gratitude not just for the fulfillment of her unspoken order this time but also for the other orders she'd been sending her new husband and herself.

She took her bag, hopped down from her stool, and was reaching for her coffee when Ruby's hand closed around it. "Okay, you're getting off this time," her friend told her, grinning impishly, "but the next time you come in, I want all the details!"

Belle just smiled, took her coffee, and continued on her way to the library. Mary Margaret hissed behind her back to Ruby, "You would!", as Leroy silently followed Belle.

Outside, the sun was just beginning to paint the windows and faces of the buildings that lined Main Street with a warm glow when Leroy poked back up by Belle's elbow. They looked at each other, she still smiling widely, and the Dwarf found he could only shake his head and grin. "I'm glad you're happy," he told her. "You deserve it."

He'd never thought Rumpelstiltskin was worthy of his friend, but clearly he made her happy. That was what was important, and as long as the Dark One didn't upset her, it was enough for Leroy. As soon as he made Belle cry for the first time, though, he'd have to answer his dagger. They parted ways, Leroy going to join the other Dwarves who were already whistling their work song and Belle continuing on into the library.

Her morning passed uneventfully as she worked the shelves, making certain every returned book was refiled and every story in its proper place. She dusted, vacuumed, polished the desk, and quickly and happily filled the orders of the few patrons who wandered in. It was nearing noon when a romance book with a steamy cover Belle didn't remember ordering was slapped down onto the desk.

She looked up in surprise only to find Ruby grinning widely at her. "Okay, so I lied! I can't wait until you come in! Girl, what were you thinking?! You didn't even invite us to your wedding!"

"It was a quiet affair," Belle responded. "Only Archie, my Father, Rumpel, and I."

"You couldn't invite me? He wouldn't let you?"

"Oh, no, it was nothing like that. He would have been happy to allow you to come, Ruby, if I'd asked him."

"Why didn't you?"

Belle sighed, her smile beginning to wane for the first time in days. "I . . . Look, it's no secret that most of you still don't trust or like Rumpel."

"So? I like you. I should have been invited to be your Maid of Honor or something."

"We didn't have a big ceremony, Ruby. Rumpel doesn't have any family left who likes him, and I wasn't about to have a lot of people there who don't like him and who he knows he can not trust on what was the happiest day of our lives."

Ruby sighed, her eyes lowering. She knew it was like to be around those who didn't trust her because of her wolf. "I guess I can get it."

Belle covered her hand with her own. Ruby looked up to see her smiling reassuringly at her. "Of course you can. It would almost be like . . . like having hunters at your wedding."

Ruby started to shudder but made a look of disgust instead. "No thanks. On either. I am _so_ never getting married!"

Belle's smile grew. "You might surprise yourself one day. All it takes is finding the right man for you, finding that one person in all the world who completes you."

"Rumpel does that for you?"

"Yes!"

Ruby sighed again. "I guess I do know you guys really love each other. He held back even when Zelena was controlling him, and I know if you hadn't been there, he wouldn't have bothered."

"He loves me, Ruby, just like I love him. I love you guys, too, but you're going to have to accept him if you're going to be a part of all of my life."

Ruby smiled and nodded, though her eyes were still slightly narrowed. "I'll try," she promised, "but in the meantime, how about joining me for lunch at Granny's?"

A voice gently clearing made Ruby look behind her with eyes narrowed again while Belle beamed brightly. "I am afraid Mrs. Gold has other plans, Miss Lucas."

Ruby started to snarl but stopped herself just in time. She rolled her eyes instead. "Of course she does." She looked back to Belle, a question poised on her tongue, but the way she was gazing at Rumpelstiltskin, her whole face lit up with joy and love, she knew her answer already. She truly did love Rumpel, and he made her happy.

Ruby started to walk away, but shot one last glare at the Dark One. "You'd better keep making her happy," she said, showing no uncertain hints of fang.

Rumpelstiltskin just smiled back at her, his hands clasped on the top of his cane as he waited patiently for his wife to join him. "Oh, I plan to, dearie, I plan to." Ruby let the door slam shut behind her, but Rumpel paid her no heed. Like the better half of his soul, he was far too happy to let an aggravated Werewolf annoy him. He watched Belle walk to him, his own face as lit with happiness and love as hers, after she turned the sign around on the door to signal that she was closed.

"Forgive me, dearest, but I simply could not stay away all day," he said, taking her hand and kissing its back. "Although if you'd rather be with your friends . . . ?"

She beamed at him. "I am exactly where I want to be and with whom." She kissed him.

After they had parted, Rumpel kept her hand in his and led her around a few aisles of books to where a couple of the bookcases were parted wider than she recalled. Belle didn't give them a second thought, however, for it was what lay between them that truly caught her interest. Two candles flickered atop a blue blanket. Food, in the form of all her favorite things to eat, was already spread out and waiting around a tray with a tea pot and a certain, chipped cup.

"Oh, Rumpel!" she exclaimed and delight, turning and kissing him again.

When they had sat down and he had began to serve her, Belle realized that there was also two books sitting on top of the basket. She looked at her favorite stories in surprise as he smiled. "I thought you might like to do some reading after we eat."

"I thought you didn't read stories like these."

"My lovely Belle, don't you know I'd enjoy listening to you read anything to me, even if it were only, as the people in this time period have been known to say, the phone book?"

She laughed. "Even I am not _that_ desperate to read."

"Nor will you ever be, my darling," he said, reaching over and taking her hand once more. "I will be pleased to get you any story your heart ever desires, as well as anything else you may want."

"Aw, Rumpel," Belle crooned, wishing her friends could see this side of them. If ever they did, there would surely be no more mistaking in their minds as to how she could so completely and thoroughly love and trust the man whose ring she was so proud to wear. "You're too good to me!"

"Nonsense, my dear," he replied, brushing some loose hairs away from her face and then cupping her cheek. "I am only as good as you deserve me to be," he whispered against her lips, his mouth lowering over hers.

"That's good," she answered in turn, "because there's really little else you can get me." Her hand his neck, her fingertips embedding in the ends of his hair. "You're everything I want!"

"And you, my darling Belle, are everything I love!" He pressed his lips to hers in a kiss that somehow still managed to grow with passion and love every time they touched, and Belle forgot about the library for the rest of the day.

The End


End file.
